Misdirection To Calmness
by ChasingJudai
Summary: "It's like whatever I do, it was just a misdirection to justice! How could all I'm fighting for be a lie?" "S-Serena, I..know that feeling. To be honest, every time..I walk I feel like I'm taking the wrong way, but I know that we can make it..so don't give up!" "..Fine." While she was more angry about misdirection, and he was more fearful towards it, they understood each other.


"What do I do?," Reira nervously wondered as he paced around the room. He had tried to go to sleep without his teddy bear but that only resulted in nightmares. He had been searching all night for it! He also didn't like the dark. The dark was scary, and who knew what lurked inside of it?

"Hey," a gruff voice called, and Reira looked up to see the owner of the voice was none other than Serena, who had slipped out of her blankets and now sat fully up on her bed.

Her hair was very messy, and she didn't look like she had slept at all. She looked very annoyed.

"What's wrong?," Serena asked.

Reira lowered his head and said, "I-It's nothing."

Serena continued to stare at him longer before she got up and walked around the room, lifting up sofa cushions and looking under tables. She hadn't said anything but Reira couldn't help but ask, "W-Where are you going?"

His question wasn't answered.

Since no response given, he continued to return to his previous searches. He kept going until he felt his head bump into something.

"Aah!," Reira yelped, scared even more than he already was.

He squeezed his eyes shut and felt all of his body shake.

"Is this what you lost?," a voice asked.

Reira slowly opened his eyes to see Serena holding his teddy bear out to him.

He paused before nodding and taking the teddy bear from her grasp.

"T-thank you," Reira stammered, relishing in the comfort of the teddy bear pressed against his chest. Serena didn't say anything and instead reached for something in her pocket. She pulled a green wrapped candy and held it out to Reira.

"For..me?," Reira asked, but Serena still did not answer.

Finally she spoke, "Candy is too sweet to me, but I hear kids like it, so I figured I'd give it to you."

Reira reluctantly took the gift, but as his fingers grazed her hand he noticed a bruise on it.

His eyes widened and Serena said in a toneless voice, "Seems I forgot that I took off my leather glove."

"Have you..been dueling with that bruised hand the whole time you were here?," Reira questioned.

"That's correct," Serena answered, her eyes showing no emotion whatsoever.

"But..that puts strain on your hand!," Reira thought, looking at the ground instead of directly at her.

"I heard you all throughout the night," Serena confessed. "You can't sleep well either, huh?"

"You started mumbling a lot. I guess I'm not the only one who has nightmares."

Reira didn't say anything and Serena began to walk past him.

Right as she was about to open a door, Reira called, "Wait! That's ni-saans.."

Before Reira could finish, a pack of scarves came out on Serena.

"Scarves that he knitted," Reira finished.

"Your brother knits?," Serena asked, throwing the scarves onto the floor.

"Well whatever.."

"I'm cold so I'm taking one of these. Why are most of these scarves so long? You would think you would trip on them. It's irritating, but it's the only thing to keep me warm."

"I still wonder most of the time how your brother can be so calm. I usually want to rush in and bash the skulls of all the duelists but your brother will argue, "Please control yourself."

"If I see an opportunity for strong duelists, I duel them! He's irritating."

Reira remained quiet thinking back to what Reiji told him about Serena.

"Reira, she's brash but she means well. In a way, you could say she's like you in how she feels she's overstepping in the wrong direction. She's just more angry when she expresses it."

"First, I figure out that Academia's goal isn't just and that I've been living a lie even though I thought I was doing the right thing and now I..now I'm here, not knowing anything again just like when I was always imprisoned from the Professor, not knowing the outer world! Nothing has changed even if I wanted it to change! It's always a misdirection! I give up," Serena yelled in her rage, punching a wall with her other hand that wasn't bruised.

"Where's the bathroom!?"

Reira opened his mouth but Serena decided to already head towards a door.

"No Serena, that's the..," Reira began but Serena had already opened the door to reveal only more scarves.

"It's official. I hate scarves," Serena grumbled. "I suddenly don't have to go to the bathroom anymore."

"This is all just.."

"S-Serena," Reira stuttered, stopping her furious outburst.

"I-I know you feel like you're going in the wrong direction. I..know that feeling. I'm always..scared, but..I know something will definitely change! So that's why..you shouldn't give up."

Serena stared at Reira harder before saying, "...Fine."

She returned to her bed with the scarf wrapped around her.

Reira smiled, thinking, "I actually said what I wanted to say for once! I'm growing, nii-san!"

The happiness was only brief though when he realized it was dark. He was scared again.

Serena noticed his shoulders tense.

"Reira..," Serena said, and his shoulders tensed up even more.

"I'm cold. You wanna sleep here with me?"

"W-what?," Reira asked.

"I figured we would warm eachother up and not have nightmares if were beside eachother," Serena explained. "I suppose I made another misdirection with my request."

Reira was scared, thinking he was always just scrambling along in the wrong paths, but knowing someone knew what that was like made him feel a little better, even if that said person was a bit more aggressive.

"N-no, I'll come," Reira said, and slowly he crawled in with her.

Serena took the other end of her scarf and wrapped it around Reira's neck.

"Night Reira."

"Night Serena."

Before long Reira could hear a rather odd noise. He looked to the side to see Serena's mouth opening and closing. He had no idea Serena was a snorer. Reira smiled and felt himself go into a peaceful slumber. Reiji came into the room, smiling, and wrapping a blanket onto both of them.

The next day was spent with Serena making a rather interesting request.

"Teach me how to knit scarves," Serena requested.

"Why would you wanna learn that?," Reiji inquired.

"Simply put, I wanna make one for myself and Reira for when we get cold so we don't have to borrow yours," Serena explained.

Reiji had begun to teach her, telling her that she had to have caution but Serena did not have caution whatsoever. While Reiji's fingers were careful and precise, Serena's were completely reckless. Her final work only looked like a big pent up ball of jumbled strings. Serena scowled at her result and Reiji pushed up his glasses, smiling, and saying, "That has to be by far the worst work I've even seen made."

"Hey!," Serena yelled, blushing slightly. "I don't have a calm grip on things like you."

"Maybe you should work on that," Reiji said, his smile still not wavering.

"I really don't like you," Serena retorted. "How can you just be so..calm about everything?"

Reira peered up to see her results and actually started laughing.

"You too, Reira!?," Serena asked and Reira said, "I agree with nii-san."

"Try again," Reiji calmly urged and Serena did so, but her eyes squinted in frustration and result after result, became worse.

"This is completely hopeless," Serena groaned but Reiji still urged her to try again.

Serena decided one more time, and surprisingly her fingertips were a lot more controlled and steady. She had actually made the scarves!

"I did it!," Serena yelled, smiling for the first time she had got to Standard Dimension.

"So you did," Reiji calmly replied.

"You know...you're not so bad," Serena admitted. "But..I still don't like you. I just don't hate you as much as before."

"That's improvement to me," Reiji said, and Serena only stared at her fingers.

"For once, they were used for something other than battle and I didn't mind," Serena thought.

"Just what is happening to me?"

Serena caught Reira smiling and asked, "What is it Reira?"

"Nothing. Thanks for the scarf," Reira said.

"No problem," Serena thought. "I think my brother really likes you," Reira said.

"Really? I don't like him," Serena responded.

"Well, give it some time because nii-sama is very nice person to be around!," Reira argued.

"If by nice you mean a pain in the..," Serena began only for Reiji to come in and yell "SERENA!"

"Don't use that kind of language around Reira, Serena."

"See? I can't get along with a stick in the mud," Serena countered but her gaze drifted on her fingers again.

"Even if I liked knitting with him, I can't get along with him."

"But..I suppose it's the start of some tolerance with him."


End file.
